This invention relates to the acquisition and storage of information relating to vehicle travel and in particular relates to the acquisition of storage of information including terrain information of a route traveled by a vehicle.
Collection of information relating to vehicle performance is relatively well known. Equipment to gather information relating to distance, speed, vehicle performance and the like has been developed over a period of years by the trucking industry for several reasons. The most important reason to the trucking industry is to ensure that the trucks operate in an efficient manner and within the confines of the laws specified for highway travel. Further, regulations of the Interstate Commerce Commission and other governing bodies may require reports on over-the-highway vehicle usage. It is expedient, therefore, to provide an automated system to record this data rather than to require the operator of the vehicle to meticulously keep an extensive log of vehicle travel.
With the advent of higher fuel prices, it is appropriate to investigate alternate sources to power roadable vehicles. One such alternate source of energy is the storage battery. Electric powered vehicles have a long history in the United States, however, their efficiency has never reached the point where it has proved economical to utilize batteries as a viable source of energy for roadable commercial vehicles. One serious drawback to electric powered vehicles is the requirement to recharge the batteries. This generally takes a relatively long period of time. Recharging is absolutely necessary after a specific period of operation measured either in hours of operation or distance traveled or in electrical terms, after so many ampere-hours of use. Because of these limitations the use of battery power would be particularly appropriate for a vehicle that had a relatively regular schedule such as a delivery truck or the like.
The range of a battery powered vehicle is seriously degraded when the terrain over which the vehicle travels includes hills which require an extensive amount of energy in comparison to level travel. While some conservation can be obtained by converting the motor to a generator on the downhill portions of the route, the overall drain on the batteries is effected by the terrain profile.
Previous vehicle profile information systems, while providing relatively accurate information on distance, fail to provide information on road inclination, acceleration and combinations of these parameters such as grade/distance profiles, acceleration/distance profiles, integrated grade/distance profiles, power requirements and so forth.
In order to evaluate delivery routes to determine if battery powered vehicles are efficient, it is necessary to predict the power requirements of the vehicle so that a vehicle having sufficient stored power can operate over that route and return to its garage without completely discharging the batteries. In the past, accurate power estimates have not been possible because of relatively inaccurate grade information.